Examining Thunder's Salary Cap, Decisions for 2025 NBA Free Agency after Finals Win
Following a successful season in which the Oklahoma City Thunder stood atop the Western Conference and reached the ROUND of the NBA playoffs, they boast the most stable outlook for the 2025-26 campaign.
Nobody—and I mean literally nobody—in the rotation from a 68-14 team is headed to free agency this summer.
Sam Presti, you are a magician.
The bills are soon coming due in the form of pricey extensions, of course, but OKC will undoubtedly be among the NBA's top contenders next year. The only question is how the Thunder might supplement the roster this summer.
Salary Cap
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While most franchises are facing a complicated cap outlook, the Thunder could hardly sit in a more comfortable position.
For one more season, at least.
Excluding two players with team options, per HoopsHype, OKC's 13 returners combine for $172.6 million on the books. That's above the projected $154.6 million cap yet very safely below the $187.9 million luxury tax.
Oklahoma City could have as many as three selections in the first round of the 2025 NBA draft. None of those contracts would put OKC—which is probably unlikely to actually use all three, pending the result of the Philadelphia 76ers' top-six protected pick—in danger of reaching the first or second apron.
This, in short, is a magnificently well-timed, well-built roster.
Top Contract Decisions
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Will the Thunder exercise their options on Ajay Mitchell or Jaylin Williams? That answer may hinge on what happens in the NBA draft.
Beyond them, however, the only decisions are trades and extensions.
The latter point is particularly cogent because Chet Holmgren, Jalen Williams and Ousmane Dieng each are extension-eligible this offseason. Holmgren and Williams are borderline locks to land a long-term agreement, whereas Dieng likely won't get a new deal and could be trade bait.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is also eligible—and destined—for a supermax contract, a four-year offer just shy of $300 million.
Maneuvering all of that money won't be simple in the future, but this is an easy offseason, relatively speaking, for the Thunder.
Free Agents to Pursue
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Seriously, like, nobody?
If the Thunder are going to add anyone, though, they might as well aim high. They currently have $13 million of the mid-level exception (MLE) available, per SalarySwish, for next season's roster.
Landing a second-unit facilitator would be ideal for OKC, which otherwise leaned on Alex Caruso or Cason Wallace in that capacity. Using that MLE, the Thunder should make a call about versatile guard Malcolm Brogdon or maybe even consider a reunion with old friend Dennis Schroder.
If the Thunder are content with a smaller deal—perfectly understandable, for the record—someone like Tyus Jones would be sensible, too.
Any offseason addition risks upending the team's excellent chemistry, but a respected veteran should fit nicely on this young roster.
